[179] On Ninth Street, between Vine and Race.
[180] According to an interview with Mrs. Hess, printed in 1897 in the Cincinnati Commercial Tribune.
[181] She was also Myrene in Pygmalion and Galatea and Stephen in The Hunchback.
[182] Miss Dow was for many years known as the aunt of Miss Marlowe. There was no actual relationship; but by legal agreement or otherwise Miss Marlowe was an “adopted niece” of the older woman. Miss Dow’s interest in her young charge was, naturally, not wholly altruistic. That is, there was a signed agreement by virtue of which Miss Dow was to share heavily in any earnings of Miss Marlowe for a term of years after the début, and was to have a voice in the management of her affairs. After the actress’ emergence in 1887 as Julia Marlowe, however, Miss Dow’s management continued for only a few years. There was even newspaper talk of Miss Marlowe’s having “thrown over” her guide and friend, after she began to meet success. Miss Dow became Mrs. Currier. Her training of Fanny Brough started her on a long career as a dramatic teacher, in which capacity she was active as recently as the autumn of 1915.
[183] Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, Julia in The Hunchback, Parthenia in Ingomar, Pauline in The Lady of Lyons and Galatea in Pygmalion and Galatea.
[184] “Whole plays were rehearsed. The instructor served both as audience and prompter. She read all the parts save the heroine’s. Scenery and the position of the other players were indicated by tables and chairs. When Romeo and Juliet was rehearsed, the back of a venerable haircloth sofa was the balcony rail. With her chin resting upon it and her gaze fixed tenderly upon a worn place in the carpet, she first recited Juliet’s impassioned good-night to her lover.”
[185] On the twentieth. How old was Julia Marlowe on this important day of her life? The date of her birth has been variously given, and authority might be found for any year between 1864 and 1870. As a matter of fact, the Register of Baptisms of the Parish of Caldbeck shows that she was baptized September 23, 1866. Thus she was at least twenty-one at the time of her début, though she was popularly supposed to be about eighteen.
[186] Besides other things, Colonel Ingersoll said: “To retain the freshness that is her greatest charm she will have to ... pay no attention to the critics. Her talent needs no guide save that afforded by her experience and her own mentality.” One Alfred Ayres, writing to the editor of the New York Dramatic Mirror, voiced the protest that was felt in many quarters against Colonel Ingersoll’s kindly meant over-enthusiasm: “What nonsense clever men do sometimes talk, when they talk about things they know little or nothing about!... There is not a novice in America more in need of guidance than is Miss Julia Marlowe. To let her go her own way would be to let her go to ruin. She is already on the high-road to becoming merely coy, coddling, and goody-goody.” Colonel Ingersoll became Miss Marlowe’s personal friend. At least one summer she spent with his family.
[187] Beginning with her New York début in 1887, Julia Marlowe’s first appearances in her various parts were as follows: Parthenia in Ingomar, Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, Viola in Twelfth Night, 1887; Julia in The Hunchback, Pauline in The Lady of Lyons, 1888; Rosalind in As You Like It, Galatea in Pygmalion and Galatea, 1889; Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing, 1890; Imogen in Cymbeline, Charles Hart in Rogues and Vagabonds, 1891; Constance in The Love Chase, 1893; Letitia Hardy in The Belle’s Stratagem, Chatterton in Chatterton, Lady Teazle in The School for Scandal, 1894; Colombe in Colombe’s Birthday, Prince Hal in Henry IV, Kate Hardcastle in She Stoops to Conquer, 1895; Lydia Languish in The Rivals (supplementary spring season, with “all-star cast”), Romola in Romola, 1896; Mary in For Bonnie Prince Charlie, The Countess in The Countess Valeska, 1897; Colinette in Colinette, Barbara in Barbara Frietchie, 1899; Mary Tudor in When Knighthood Was in Flower, 1901; Fiametta in The Queen Fiametta, Charlotte Oliver in The Cavalier, 1902; Lady Barchester in Fools of Nature, 1903; Ophelia in Hamlet, 1904; Katherine in The Taming of the Shrew, Portia in The Merchant of Venice, 1905; Salome in John the Baptist, Jeanne in Jeanne d’Arc, Rautendelein in The Sunken Bell, 1906; Madonna Gloria in Gloria, Yvette in The Goddess of Reason, 1908; Cleopatra in Antony and Cleopatra, 1909; Lady Macbeth in Macbeth, 1910.
[188] For Henry IV Mr. and Mrs. Taber had to learn to wear armor. They used genuine armor, and to accustom themselves to it they wore it for hours each day in their apartments.